I. The naton’s most efficient offense was on full display tonight inside Assembly Hall. Mount St. Mary’s — as previously detailed round these parts — offers little resistance in the halfcourt once you get past its trapping defense. Indiana connected on 72 percent of its shots in the first half, including 5-of-6 from distance (83 percent); it assisted on 14 of its 18 makes. And a good chunk of those points came off easy looks around the rim, as the Hoosiers tallied 22 points in the paint. Indiana kept it up in the second half and finished with these lines: 70.6 percent from the field, 9-of-12 from 3-point range (75 percent), 27 assists on 36 makes, 50 points in the paint. They scored 1.34 points per possession. And it was nearly a historic night. According to Ken Bikoff, Indiana’s single-game record for field goal percentage is 71.2 percent vs. Michigan State in 1988.

About the only knocks on IU’s offensive output tonight came at the line, as it only shot 12-of-19 (63.2%). The Hoosiers also had 19 turnovers. But remember: This comes against the Mountaineers, a team that entered tonight’s contest fifth best in the nation at turning opponents over due to their defensive style.

Yogi Ferrell posted a career-high nine assists to aid in Indiana’s balanced attack, which featured Will Sheehey (6-of-9, 16 points), Christian Watford (5-of-9, 15 points), Victor Oladipo (5-of-7, 14 points) and Cody Zeller (7-of-9, 16 points) having near identical scoring lines. Watford looked more aggressive this evening, especially around the basket with a couple strong takes. He also added eight boards to his tally. This is good to see.

II. Hanner Mosquera-Perea saw 10 minutes of action tonight and, well, he’s continuing to learn and find his place on the floor. He had some good looks around the rim early, but failed to convert them, and also missed two free throws. He also fouled a Mountaineers 3-point shooter. The freshman did have one rebound. The more time he gets in these next couple non-conference games, the more experience he’ll have — and perhaps more trust Tom Crean will have in him — come Big Ten season.

Derek Elston also returned to lineup this evening to make his senior year debut. He saw nine minutes of action and scored his first basket of the year late in the second half to go along with two boards and a steal. Elston now also gets the rest of Indiana’s non-conference slate to work into game action before Big Ten season hits at the end of the month. And if Peter Jurkin ever sees the court — more on that below — the Hoosiers’ frontcourt is just about back to full strength.

IV. Some rotation questions tonight: Where oh where was Jeremy Hollowell? Jeff Howard entered ahead of him the first half. Howard also got run in the regular rotation in the second. Hollowell never saw the floor. Maybe he’s in the doghouse. Maybe he’s got a small injury that was undisclosed. Maybe someone will ask Crean about it in his post-game presser.

Stay tuned.

This also seemed like a game Jurkin might find himself getting some decent minutes in, especially with Indiana’s lead teetering around 40 for about the last 10 minutes of the game. But the now-eligible Jurkin never saw the floor. Again, maybe the reasoning behind this will be revealed during post-game comments.

Remember this schedule was made, for the most part, a year ago. it was probably made with the idea that last year’s team goes 18 – 13 or so and needs a few patsies to pad the schedule and tune up. Plus we were counting on Kentucky as part of the schedule. Who knew that UK would back out, that last years team would go 24 – 7, and would be ready for, and need some tougher tests.

“Christian Watford is still Christian Watford. He may even be Christian Watfordier than last year”
Best comment of the season. I laughed so hard I almost pissed my pants!

Benhyoung14

I’m wondering if Crean is thinking about red shirting Jurkin. Hollowell? Sick, doghouse? Grades? He only had 3 minutes against Butler so I doubt it.

I read once that Crean would run over 100 plays through the course of the season. He seems like an Offensive Coordinator in football. I’m not sure what you would call it, but your guess is as good as mine.

Benhyoung14

Maybe the scheme is, nobody calls for the ball.

Bobby

It’s incredible how the “Crean can’t coach” trolls have crawled out from beneath their rocks over the past week. Seriously, there’s no basis for these comments, nothing but wild speculation and hindsight.

Bobby

It’s amazing how some people want us to play a Michigan caliber team every night. There’s not a credible shred of evidence to suggest that playing a loaded pre-conference schedule will help you come March. The fact remains that the Hoosiers will be battle tested come tourney time due to playing in the toughest conference in the country. Games like last night are beneficial to the team, it gets the young players involved and gives coach time to experiment with different rotations. Consider yourself educated.

Benhyoung14

Everybody needs to step back from the ledge. If we have one weakness it is defending the 3, and maybe rebounding. Think about Bobby Knight’s last game/next game principal, or in our case the last 10 games. We were overconfident…that is all. Nebraska anyone? I’m not saying we’ll win out the rest of the year, but we are in very good shape. Yes, the schedule has been week. I’d be more concerned if we did not lose to Butler. That was the wake up call we needed. Warford usually gets better towards the end of the year. 12pts 8 RB/g is a pretty good stat line.

Upset Alert! When we play Iowa at their place…..
They always play us tough!
They’ll be looking to do to us what we did to UK last year; they have a “good team” and need a “statement” win.
Indiana is in the fight of the young season when they go there.

HoosierPat

I’m still not sure what I think about Hanner. He looked pretty lost on defense last night.

Wish we had a timeout corner where we could put some of the absurdly misinformed or malcontents who post.

Great job Hoosiers. Keep working… You will be just fine.

hoosierfan

I agree we should not play Michigan caliber teams every game, but how about some top 100 teams instead if these teams ranked 200 or lower. And if its to work the young guys, why didnt two of them see the floor? Educate me please.

sloan screen #45

I saw the same thing on the screens. This team is not mentally tough enough to play good D for 40 min. yet. Hulls is not strong enough to fight through a screen and thats why I say Remy must play more minutes in the B1G.

b_side

Totally agree. Found myself yelling at our players for overplaying the ball-handler. Especially Cody. I know he’s just doing what he’s told, but it’s unnecessary in my opinion. We’re scrambling far too much on pick and rolls. Would rather have us “stay at home” vs. always going for the steal. Sometimes the deflections thing can be too much of a distraction on defense when it comes to basic fundamentals.

Just as Butler did, and to a mild extent MSM, we play great defense for 30 seconds only to give up a layup or open shot. B1G will pick us apart if we keep falling into that pattern. And it plays right into the opposition’s strategy of slowing the game down by limiting the number of possessions we have.

b_side

It has nothing to do with the forum. I see plenty of forum members posting on here. What you have to realize is that ITH is seeing increased traffic, which is a result of IU being ranked #1 for a while. It’s a good thing – we want Alex and Co. to continue writing and be profitable so we have a place to comment.

Think of the newbies like freshmen…you’re Hulls. You know how the community works. We just need to show them the lay of the land and then they’ll adjust.

Also, this is the first time we’ve experienced such grand expectations for this team. Based on pre-season predictions, virtually everyone on here expected a banner and nothing less. What fans have to realize is that even with the most talent, best mix of experience/youth, it still takes luck and matchups to win 6 straight.

CreamandCrimson

Very valid points. I’m glad to be considered like Hulls. Of course, if I could shoot like Hulls, I would shoot a whole lot more than I do (and than he does).

SCHoosier

My Goodness..they played against a team that couldn’t/didn’t defend..couldn’t rebound ore score.. IU got more layups that field goals..what do all those numbers mean against competition like that? Glad to see the guys come back and play hard.. but hose numbers against a team like that are “fools gold,.”

CreamandCrimson

That’s true. You have to take the numbers from last night’s game with a grain of salt. However, I think being the top offensive team (according to Ken Pomeroy’s numbers) over the season thus far is a little telling. I don’t think anyone can fairly say we play “one-on-one backyard ball” with little passing nor should anyone be questioning whether or not Tom Crean can coach a team.

b_side

First off, we don’t know why Jeremy and Jurkin didn’t see the court. Please don’t pretend you know better than Crean on that issue. In Crean We Trust. If not, feel free to jump off the bandwagon.

This game was VCU-lite and we learned a valuable lesson. Jordy still struggles with pressure. But when settled in the half court, he picked those guys apart. We learned that even with this pressure, Yogi’s speed and ball handling are immense talents that this team sorely lacked last season.

Above else, games like this are needed for film and future coaching. You use these experiences when facing opponents who might play a similar style (mainly those in March). You saw us struggle against VCU’s pressure last March. I bet Crean jumped at the chance to play these guys simply to simulate a playing environment with full-court pressure that we otherwise won’t face during B1G play.

And don’t forget the bottom line, college athletics are a business too and we generate a nice chunk of change for hosting these cupcakes.

WatchingYogi_atYogis

I’m not sure our schedule is much different than most Big Ten teams or major programs for that matter. But I agree, our second team would be a tough game.

markhoosierfan

I don’t think anyone is near a ledge. People are just sharing their thoughts on their favorite basketball team in the comments section of a random article, seems pretty harmless to me. The expectations have been raised. We are just looking where the Hoosiers need to improve to win a national championship. You said, “If we have one weakness it is defending the 3, and maybe rebounding.” People are just a little worried about this team because those are probably the two most important characteristics a team needs to get through the tournament. You have to contain the 3, have to keep teams off the boards, and you also have to protect the rim. Long, long way to go before March. It’s just fun to discuss where this team needs to improve to reach their ultimate goal. They obviously have a championship offense, and this is the funnest IU team to watch that I’ve seen (was a little too young to remember the Alford years, I only remember the later Knight years when the players looked like they couldn’t wait for the season to end so they could get away from him). Can’t wait for Big Ten play. Excited to see how Perea develops, because they absolutely have to have another post presence.

Bobby

It’s not as easy as “Hey you top 100 KenPom team, come play us next year”. These schedules are set years in advance and there’s no way for Glass and Crean to know if the opponents will be 100th, 200th or 300th. Again, the Big Ten will give us plenty of big tests night in and night out, so we will be ready come March. We could play Coppin State eleven times pre-conference for all I care.

I will not venture a guess as to why Hollowell or Jurkin didn’t see the floor last night and it’s pretty irresponsible to be making up wild theories.

NotTheRealSteveEyl

Amen. In the words of Pat Reilly, “no rebounds, no rings”

This team is more fun than the Alford teams IMO. It was fun watching the Calbert/Damon/ Alan Henderson team when they were clicking, but honestly, I’d say this is the most fun since Isiah, Landon, Ray tolbert, Wittman and Kitchell. That team could ball.

Zeke was the one player Knight ever coached where even Bobby was kinda forced to just say, “kid, you are unbelievable. Just go do your thing.”

b_side

I read the article. I follow the guy on Twitter. But he writes more for comedic reaction than actual analysis. He isn’t paid for his analysis. He ranks the Hoosiers at 10, while the media and coaches have us at 6. I’ll take their expert opinion any day vs. his “sky is falling” viewpoint.

He also said we have basically the exact same team as last year, except the addition of Yogi. Well that exception is a huuuuge addition! Besides that we have a bulked up Cody, a better defending Jordy Hulls and improved versions of Vic, Sheehey and Remy. Let’s not forget an athlete in Hanner that will contribute mightily once the game starts slowing down a bit.

Some people on here get so worked up over articles that criticize the Hoosiers. A similar example happened the other guy with a post from Bleacher Report. It’s nonsense and not worth getting worked up about.

Let me finish with your last point: “Whatever happens over the next two games is meaningless” That type of shortsightedness is why you are a fan my friend and not on the sidelines or behind the scenes helping these guys improve every day.

In my opinion, and I’m guessing Crean’s as well, the next two games are vital. Not for how much we win each game by, but to get guys like Hanner and Elston up to speed. Possibly Jurkin too. We lost these guys for 9 games! There is a massive difference playing at game level speed with referees and opposing strategies that are just too hard to replicate in practice.

Whatever. I could care less where we are ranked, by this guy or the assistant coaches/video coordinators who fill out the ballots for the coaches poll or the writers. The best thing about college bball is that the polls are meaningless.

But I think the points I quoted above are valid, at least to a point. I also disagree that the team isn’t the same. But we do have some concerning deficiencies, many which were also there last year.

What I meant about the games being meaningless is that no matter what happens, we aren’t likely to learn much about the team. As a practice excercise, they probably have value for Crean.

I’m just bored by beating patsies at home, and concerned that we have struggled in every game away from AH, even though none of them were true road games.

I think it’s patently obvious that I’m a fan. Isn’t this site for fans, my friend?

Scott Berryman

VO is a beast defensively. Hulls and Yogi are not. Those two are our biggest weaknesses because their man penetrates past them and the other 4 defenders have to adjust their help side. This results in easy buckets and our team being in poor rebounding position. This is also where the easy 3 pointers come from. That is my opinion. Bi am not near a ledge and extremely secure in my analysis. This is what makes me a fan.

Scott Berryman

Burke, Hardaway and GRob 3 are going to present huge issues for our starting line up of Hulls, Yogi, and VO. Is CTC going to have the stones to start Will or Remy?

b_side

You’re right that it’s not about where we are ranked. I was making a point about his level of being an expert vs. doing something simply for entertainment. Grantland is an extension of ESPN and there are some really thorough analytical pieces on the site. But Titus is a simple observationist with an enormous bias.

This site is definitely for fans, myself included. But the negativity on here lays further claim that many act like backseat drivers to what Crean is trying to do.

Scott Berryman

100%agree. Good post

Benhyoung14

I’ll be the first to say where we can improve. It just seems that many of these threads are, “IU lost a game, defense sucks, offense sucks, rebounding sucks, guards suck, and Brad Stephens would have done better.” When IU puts in the effort then we do very well on the boards. I think Jordy and Yogi are good defenders inside the 3 point line, but outside it they’re a little undersized. Towards the end of the B1G season the team started crashing the boards and we exceeded all expectations. That wouldn’t have happened without the boards. It will all come together come tournament time.

Scott Berryman

I guess we will just wait and see. I feel all concerns raised by us are fairly legitimate concerns. I am extremely concerned when a player doesn’t seem to be a team player, and I feel very confident that his teammates and coaches feel the same way.

WatchingYogi_atYogis

Michigan is going to be a tough matchup for Crean’s selected starting five so far. But I don’t think it will change. Seems like a lot of lineup discussions on here get into defense v. offense. There is of course a downside to having Hulls and Yogi in there. But its also our best offensive lineup. I don’t think Yogi is quite the defensive liability you note above. I am pretty certain that our offense is far better with him attacking at the one than it is with Remy on the ball. Remy gets a lot of love on here, but I find him tentative to push the action with the ball at the PG. He does a lot of backing out with the ball and needs ball screens that Yogi doesn’t. With that said, his ability to shoot, rebound and defend have made him a dependable weapon in the rotation.

I wonder who you would have Will or Remy start over in the Michigan game?

WatchingYogi_atYogis

Bleacher Report is pure trash. I find myself reading some of their stuff (I’m not going to tarnish journalism by calling them articles) because they seem to put out a lot of content and get to the top of google searches. But its all speculative. I’d say they are right about 1 percent of their pro player movement predictions. The rest of their stuff is not much more accurate. I’ve gotten to the point where I will read anything above bleacher report about any subject.

aka Hoosier Daddy

First off i am concerned that crean doesn’t give cody any help around the basket plus lets cz guard past the three point line shouldn’t our 7 footer be closer to the basket?

Scott Berryman

I think I would start Sheehey. Remy is a bull and I like his physical nature. Sheehey scores 12 ppg in about 21 min/game so starting him and keeping his athleticism on the floor for 28 min/game could yield more points and rebounds.

Sheehey at 6’7 would guard GRob, VO on Hardaway and start Hulls, a SR on Burke. I would use Remy and Yogi amongst our 5 and try to wear those 3 down. Yogi could have a Sheehey factor off the bench. Depending on the first 6 minutes of a game, Yogi could change the pace.

I think we are going to see our 5’11 guards get exposed in BIG play and we will have to start Sheehey soon. With DE getting healthy, Yogi, Hanner, Remy are a solid 4 off the bench.

marcusgresham

I took the “bad grades” as a reference to when he was in high school, but maybe I’m misinterpreting what he said.

marcusgresham

…and everyone should go back and look at that team’s schedule—I did just the other day. They lost that season to Texas-Pan American.

marcusgresham

Forget “home, road, neutral site,” there’s an aspect no one has mentioned that leads to this team’s vulnerability–tempo. IU beat the hell out of UNC, not because it was in Assembly (sure, that didn’t hurt,) but because Carolina was willing to try to run along. Georgia, Georgetown, Butler, all had a commonality in that they were successful at controlling the speed of play. Ignore the 86 points scored in the Butler game because there were several scored in the overtime; they muddied up the game and took away transition. When IU seemed to get back in it was when they finally went to the full-court trapping press, (not a full-court man-to-man press, which is semi-pointless because the best ballhandler just gets the ball and dribbles one-on-one while everyone else heads upcourt. If teams try to slow the tempo Indiana needs to be proactive and force the issue. As much depth as there is on this team fouls shouldn’t be a worry, so get after them.